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AUSTIN (KXAN) — A new initiative from two Texas state departments aims to crack down on dangerous driving that contributes to serious and fatal crashes.

The Texas Department of Transportation and the Texas Department of Public Safety unveiled their safety partnership at a joint press conference on Thursday. The day marked the 24th anniversary of the last time Texas saw a deathless day on state roads: Nov. 7, 2000.

“It’s astonishing to believe that every day for the past 24 years, someone has died on a Texas road,” TxDOT’s Executive Director Marc Williams said. “Every. Single. Day.”

TxDOT detailed plans to develop traffic safety solutions and inform drivers on safer driving habits, while Texas DPS troopers will distribute tip cards during traffic stops to help promote better-driving behavior. The cards will be passed out over the next two weeks, officials confirmed.

Those messages will target some of the largest contributors to serious and fatal crashes, including unsafe driving speeds, impaired or distracted driving as well as travelers not buckling up.

More than 87,000 people have died in the past 24 years since the last death-free day on Texas roads. Nearly 4,300 people died on state roads last year, and the state is now averaging 10 traffic deaths a day based on current 2024 figures.

Prior to the somber anniversary, TxDOT announced this summer $17 billion allocated to roadway safety improvements as part of the state’s 10-year Unified Transportation Plan.

Story courtesy of KXAN Austin

RIO GRANDE CITY, Texas (AP) — Jorge Bazán’s family has lived on the U.S.-Mexico border for generations and voted for Democrats as long as he can remember.

He broke the family tradition this year and voted for Donald Trump because he doesn’t trust the Democratic Party’s economic policies.

“I think they forgot about the middle class,” said Bazán, who works for the utility company in Rio Grande City, seat of the most Hispanic county in the nation. “People are suffering right now. Everything’s very expensive.”

The South Texas region — stretching from San Antonio to the Rio Grande Valley — has long been a Democratic stronghold. A slide toward Trump in 2020 rattled Democrats in the predominately Hispanic area, where for decades Republicans seldom bothered to field candidates in local races. However, few Democrats expected the dramatic realignment that happened Tuesday, when Trump flipped several counties along the border including Hidalgo and Cameron, the two most populous counties in the Rio Grande Valley.

In Starr County, where Bazán lives, voters backed a Republican presidential candidate for the first time in a century. The predominantly Hispanic and working-class rural county, with a median household income of $36,000 that’s one of the lowest in the nation, gave Trump a 16 percentage-point victory margin over Vice President Kamala Harris. Roughly 2 million residents live at Texas’ southernmost point, among vast tracts of farmland and many state and federal agents patrolling the border.

Trump’s victories in the Rio Grande Valley starkly showed how working-class voters nationwide are shifting toward Republicans. That includes voters on the Texas border, where many Democrats long argued that Trump’s promised crackdowns on immigration would turn off voters.

“I was always a lifelong Democrat, but I decided to change to Republican with the political landscape that it is now,” said Luis Meza, a 32-year-old Starr County voter. “I felt that going Republican was the better choice, especially with the issues of immigration and everything like that that’s going on.”

Meza said that he was against Trump at first, but noticed too few changes under President Joe Biden to justify voting for Harris.

Biden won Hidalgo County by less than half the margin that Hillary Clinton did in 2016. Since then, Republicans have invested millions of dollars to persuade Hispanic and working-class voters soured by Democratic policies.

A similar scenario played out in the state’s three most competitive races in nearby counties. Republican Rep. Monica De La Cruz claimed a decisive victory in the 15th Congressional District. In the two other races, seasoned Democratic incumbents barely held on to their seats.

Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar narrowly escaped defeat against a political newcomer in the most competitive race of his two-decade career. Cuellar, whose district includes Rio Grande City, was indicted this year on bribery and other charges for allegedly accepting $600,000 from companies in Mexico and Azerbaijan. His support for abortion restrictions makes him one of the most conservative Democrats in the House.

Democratic Rep. Vicente Gonzalez also narrowly escaped defeat by an opponent he comfortably beat two years ago.

Nationally, Black and Latino voters appeared slightly less likely to support Harris than they were to back Biden four years ago, according to AP VoteCast data. More than half of Hispanic voters supported Harris, but that was down slightly from the roughly 6 in 10 who backed Biden in 2020. Trump’s support among those groups appeared to rise slightly compared to 2020.

In McAllen, Texas, Jose Luis Borrego said that inflation and the promise of tougher border restrictions made him vote for a Republican presidential candidate for the first time.

“I wanted to see change and that’s why I did vote for Trump. I did vote red. I would not call myself a Republican” Borrego, 37, said. He said that he voted for Hillary Clinton and Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders in prior elections.

Borrego’s whole family voted Trump.

“We just (made) this choice, because we didn’t have another choice that we felt comfortable with,” he said.

Republican Sen. Ted Cruz said he had months of visits to the region during his campaign race against Democratic U.S. Rep. Colin Allred. In a victory speech on Election Day, Cruz said Hispanic voters are leaving the Democratic Party because of immigration.

“They are coming home to conservative values they never left. They understand something the liberal elites never will: There’s nothing progressive about open borders,” Cruz said. “There is nothing Latino about letting criminals roam free.”

Michael Mireles, the director of civil engagement for labor rights group La Unión del Pueblo Entero, believes that Democrats did not engage Hispanic voters enough about the issues that concern them.

“I think that folks on the Democratic side have been really slow to have those conversations with Latino households and families.” Mireles said in Hidalgo County after Election Day.

“We can’t wait for a big election to have those conversations. By that point, it’s too late.”

___ Lathan is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

___

This story has been amended to correct the spelling of Democratic Rep. Vicente Gonzalez’s first name and Jose Luis Borrego’s age.

A federal judge on Thursday struck down a Biden administration policy that aimed to ease a path to citizenship for some undocumented immigrants who are married to U.S. citizens.

The program, lauded as one of the biggest presidential actions to help immigrant families in years, allowed undocumented spouses and stepchildren of U.S. citizens to apply for a green card without first having to leave the country.

The temporary relief from deportation brought a brief sense of security to some 500,000 immigrants estimated to benefit from the program before Texas-based U.S. District Judge J. Campbell Barker put it on hold in August, days after applicants filed their paperwork.

Barker ruled Thursday that the Biden administration had overstepped its authority by implementing the program and had stretched the legal interpretation of relevant immigration law “past its breaking point.”

The short-lived Biden administration initiative known as “Keeping Families Together” would have been unlikely to remain in place after Donald Trump took office in January. But its early termination creates greater uncertainty for immigrant families as many are bracing for Trump’s return to the White House.

Trump’s election victory this week sets the stage for a swift crackdown on undocumented individuals after the Republican ran on promises of “mass deportation.” The president-elect energized his supporters on the campaign trail with a litany of anti-immigrant statements, including that immigrants were “poisoning the blood” of the nation.

During his first term, Trump appointed Barker as a judge in Tyler, Texas, which lies in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, a favored venue for advocates pushing conservative arguments.

Barker had placed the immigration initiative on hold after Texas and 15 other states, led by their Republican attorneys general, filed a legal challenge accusing the executive branch of bypassing Congress to help immigrant families for “blatant political purposes.”

Republicans argued the initiative created costs for their states and could draw more migrants to the U.S.

The policy would have applied to people who have been living continuously in the U.S. for at least 10 years, do not pose a security threat and have utilized the existing legal authority known as “parole in place” that offers deportation protections.

Those married to a citizen by June 17, the day before the program was announced, could pay a $580 application fee and fill out a lengthy application explaining why they deserve humanitarian parole. If approved, applicants would have three years to seek permanent residency and obtain work authorization.

It was not immediately clear Thursday whether anyone had received approval under the program, which only accepted applications for about a week before the judge placed it on hold.

Noncitizen spouses are already eligible for legal status but often have to apply from their home countries. The process typically includes a years-long wait outside of the U.S., which can separate family members with different immigration statuses.

SAN ANTONIO – The San Antonio Express-News reports that a Baptist retreat operator has issued a public apology for misusing funds meant to benefit a mother whose daughter was killed in the Robb Elementary School massacre in Uvalde. Jessica Hernandez, whose daughter Alithia Ramirez was among the 19 children and two teachers killed on May 24, 2022, had sued Alto Frio Baptist Encampment, Inc. for money it collected through a GoFundMe fundraising campaign referred to as the “Rebel Give.” Alithia’s name and image were used to promote donations that would go toward Hernandez, but the nonprofit organization used the proceeds to renovate a house on its campgrounds in Leakey, about 40 miles north of Uvalde. For about three weeks before the mass shooting, Hernandez stayed at the house as she worked as a camp housekeeper.

Attorney Javier Espinoza, who represented Hernandez for free, was referred to Hernandez by the San Antonio Legal Services Association, or SALSA. Espinoza filed the case against the non-profit in August 2023. “That money should have gone to her,” he said at the time. The lawsuit was filed seeking compensatory damages, but at the time it was not known how much money was raised. The suit said the name and image of Hernandez’s daughter, Alithia, on the GoFundMe page prompted an outpouring of support from people across the country. Even actor Matthew McConaughey, a native of Uvalde, donated. Discovery and deposition of the camp’s corporate representative since revealed that donations from the GoFundMe to the non-profit were minimal, according to a SALSA statement. Because of the ongoing trauma suffered by Hernandez, and her desire not to relive the events of the slaying in a deposition, all parties agreed to conclude the matter with a publicly filed apology, according to the SALSA statement. Alto Frio Baptist Encampment Inc., its executive director Rusty Brandon and Hernandez’s former supervisor, assistant executive director Kim St. Clair said in the court record, which was filed filed recently, that they apologize for any offense that may have been caused by the GoFundMe.

AUSTIN – KXAN reports that almost 350,000 votes have been tabulated in Austin’s mayoral election. With unofficial results fully reported, KXAN is still unable to make a projection in this race — and we want you to know why. According to the Travis County Clerk’s Office, there are three types of ballots still outstanding: Mail-in ballots that were postmarked by 7 p.m. on Tuesday and received by 5 p.m. Wednesday. Overseas and military mail-in ballots that arrive by Tuesday, Nov. 12. Provisional ballots that have not yet been processed.

Incumbent Mayor Kirk Watson currently has 50.01% of the vote. A candidate must receive more than 50% to avoid a runoff. There are still ballots left to be counted, which means Watson could win outright or be forced into a runoff with second-place Carmen Llanes Pulido. The Travis County Clerk’s Office said there are about 6,000 mail ballots that were sent out but have not yet been returned, and it’s unclear how many of those will be received by the deadline. In addition, there are about 3,200 provisional ballots that still need to be reviewed before it’s determined whether they will be counted. Late-arriving ballots are also possible in Williamson and Hays County, but those totals are expected to be much lower than in Travis County. Both Travis and Williamson County told KXAN they expect official results to be released by the end of next week, after the canvas.

HOUSTON – The Houston Chronicle repors that despite growing up in a liberal Mexican American household in Houston’s Denver Harbor neighborhood, Tessie Kempenski hasn’t supported a Democrat in a presidential election since Jimmy Carter in 1976. For decades, the 67-year-old has been an outlier as a Republican-supporting Latina, but when she woke up to the news Wednesday that Donald Trump had regained the White House — with unprecedented levels of Latino support nationwide — she felt vindicated. “What people don’t understand is my hairdresser, my nail salon, my cleaners, they all voted for Trump because they’re small businesses and they’re taking a hit (economically),” she said as she ate breakfast at the East End staple Doña Maria on Wednesday. “(Democrats) take us for granted and assume we’re going to agree with them on everything.”

Latinos in Texas and across the country voted for President-elect Trump in striking numbers in the 2024 election, weakening the Democratic voting base and helping contribute to the Republican victory on Tuesday. Exit polling by The Washington Post indicates that 55% of Latino voters in Texas, who make up about a third of the state’s electorate, voted for Trump in this election — a 14-point swing from the 41% who voted for him in 2020. And though Vice President Kamala Harris won a slim majority of Latino voters across the country, her eight-point lead amongst Latinos nationwide is a double-digit drop from Biden’s in 2020. The results could indicate that Republicans made significant inroads into one of Democrats’ most reliable voting blocs. “The realignment continues, and it’s a phenomenon to behold,” said Orlando Sanchez, former Harris County Treasurer and president of the Texas Latino Conservatives.